"Catching up"

Hello everybody! We are blogging again! We haven't done it in so long I don't know if anyone checks ours anymore, but we are up and going again! These are some pictures of this summer. I have had some trouble with my pictures lately, but I was able to make these available, more will come later...

This is the team I went to Haiti with in July. It was so great to be back after not having been there for over 5 years! Things haven't changed too much. We got to stay at the Harvest orphanage in Port-au-Prince for a few days and then we went down to Joli Gilbert to do medical training with the church leaders in the area, and do a medical clinic. As always, we witnessed God's mighty and loving hand miltiple times in those two weeks, and we were blessed.
While I was in Haiti, Josh was with Taylor and Aubrey driving up to St. Louis and getting everything moved back in by himself!! He is superman! I was so blessed -but not surprised- to come home to St. Louis and find the house and the girls all doing great. Josh was pretty worn out, but he still had a big smile on his face!

We got to go to the Bahamas with my parents and then stay with the whole John Leininger family. We also got to spend some time with Kelly and Richard there. Kelly took this picture of us at the beach.



















We had a great time playing with our friends and family in San Antonio.
















And we got to eat at Mague's ("Maggie's"), our favorite mexican place in Boerne. 

A Little Change of Plans

We have told many of you that we were planning to come back to Texas on the 20th, but things have changed and now we don't have to rush to get back right after finals are over. We are planning to stay here another week and get back on the 26th. Also we are thinking we will not be in Texas the entire summer now- but just the first half or so. And then we will head back to St. Louis, but that is all still up in the air. Just thought we'd let you know! We are looking forward to seeing everyone back in our good ol' hometown. Hope everyone is doing well. By the way, please be praying for us. We are now in the middle of finals and it is a very strenuous time with Josh studying and me basically having the girls to myself. He just called to tell me he has finished his second final. So we are getting close to the finish, but there are two more which are more difficult than the first two. Well, we'll see you soon!

This is Taylor with her friend Wyatt who lives right next door. His mom and dad have become good friends of ours and one of the reasons we are so thankful to live here at Gulf Dr. 

Look who's standing up!

A couple weeks ago around the time for Aubrey to wake up from her nap I heard her "talking" in her room. Usually right when she wakes up she is ready to get out of bed and play with someone, so I was wondering why that time she was content just being in there by herself. Well, when I went in I saw why. She must have been busy trying to stand, and when she did pull herself up she was quite proud of herself! (Time to move the crib mattress all the way down!) I really doesn't take much to make this little one happy. 

Meet Me in St. Louis

My mom and dad came out to visit us last weekend. We got to see several of the many sights of St. Louis, which is one of those things you often don't do until you have company! Taylor kept Nana busy from the moment she walked through the door. And we grown-ups enjoyed catching up on life and playing cards together at night. We all had a great time being together.....This is a picture of what might be Taylor's favorite part of the zoo, especially when she gets to go with Nana!












Three generations of graham crackers and milk.















Papa and Taylor at the park by the arch. 

Surrender?

Surrender is turning over all that we are to God's mercy. It is laying down our arms and confessing that His power and glory outnumber our puny weapons. Even more, surrender confesses that our deepest desire is not to succeed in business, to marry, to have kids, to be well or simply happy; instead, our deepest hunger is to see Him. Surrender goes even further: It despises anything and everything in us and outside of us that compromises our passion to be caught up in His glory and love.

Aaaa!!

Taylor and I had a little excitement that I would like to share with anyone who might be amused by it....Taylor was outside with her trike and somehow it rolled into the brush behind our back yard. She could not get it out so, seeing the situation, I came to the rescue. I didn't have any shoes nearby so I just went in my bare feet like the country girl I am (or so thought). I was on my way to get the trike out of the brush when I felt a cold, slithery feeling on and between my toes! I jumped and shreeked loudly as I looked down and saw a very upset snake make its way into the brush. Realizing Taylor saw the whole thing, I laughed and tried to make it seem like no big deal but I still had the shivers! Oh well, I don't know anybody who likes to play footsie with a snake, even if it is only about 18 inches long.

Happy Easter!

 

Happy Easter from the Days! These pictures are the result of me attempting to get some nice Easter pictures of the two girls together. Maybe next year Aubrey will be alittle more cooperative and not want to crawl all over the place as soon as we let her go! Well, we take what we can get.


 

Sweet Memories

I was organizing our pictures today and ran across these two of Taylor and Caitlyn last summer. I just thought they were sweet and wanted to share. We love you, Caitlyn!

Here is our little helper! 

Here is our little crawler!  

8 Months...

We have some exciting news that we would love tell everyone in person, but we don't want to wait that long! It has two tiny hands and two tiny feet, two eyes and a rapidly beating heart. The parents are eagerly preparing for the arrival of this little package as God knits it perfectly together. Aubrey will be about 15 months old and Taylor will be 3 years old when it finally arrives. Yes, about 8 months from now there will be a precious new baby born into the world! Who are the proud parents? We don't know, but we figure they are probably very excited about their new baby. Happy April fool's! I hope everyone has a great day full of fun and surprises. Josh already tried to make me spray myself with the kitchen sink sprayer. But I dodged it!
We do have some true news. Aubrey is officially crawling! She seriously never wants to stop moving now that she has figured out how to do it. She is so funny. Whenever we are holding her she makes a diving motion toward the floor because she wants to get down and GO. Her knees are constantly red. We are truly enjoying the children God has given us, and should He give us more we will let you know. ;)

Duck

We went to the zoo today. We had a great time. The weather was perfect. At one point Josh was walking along a pathway between two ponds. He suddenly let out a grunt, stumbled and almost fell down. A duck had just flown directly into the side of his head. It was a big, wet duck. It was pretty funny.

5 years ago today

Posted by Josh:

It was 5 years ago today that my precious 19 year old girlfriend agreed to marry me. These have been the best and happiest years of my life and have far exceeded my lofty expectations. Thank you for marrying me, Sweetheart. I love you.

Happy Spring from St. Louis!!

 

A Little Update

It is hard to believe we are half way through the semester already! I have not been nearly as faithful about blogging as I had hoped I would be when we first moved here, but here is a little update about what we've been up to lately.

Josh has had two midterms. He feels good about one and pretty good about the other (no surprise there). He has also read many books, written many papers, listened to many good lectures (and several not-so-good ones). And even with all this his family remains his top priority.

What have I been doing for the past semester? I don't really know. I started a ladies Bible/book study and prayer group at our house, which I've really enjoyed. Besides that I pretty much stay busy with the typical tasks of a wife and mother who has a precious family to take care of.

Since we are so close to being totally settled in, we decided to change everyone's rooms around. So now Taylor will be in our room, Aubrey (who has been in our room) will be in Taylor's room, and Josh and I will be in the room that we are making in the basement! If you have known our family long you probably think we have some kind of fear of being completely settled anywhere! Well, we don't. And I'm sure God is using this "trend" for a reason.

We have had some visitors this semester. Rich Shipe, a good friend of Josh's, came for a weekend. He and Josh went camping on one of the coldest weekends of the winter! They survived,but we sent Rich home sick. Right now my cousin Scott is here with us. He is in college at Oklahoma State and this week is his spring break. So we have gotten to hang out with him for several days. I don't know what Taylor will do when he leaves! He has been so sweet playing with her and reading with her. Right before Scott came, Josh got to go visit his brother Jeremy in Kansas City. Jeremy's basketball team was there for the national championships. Josh had a good time visiting him. He always takes any opportunity to see his brothers.

Our Spring Break is next week (3/25-4/2)and we are ready for it! We plan to spend some time visiting some friends in Memphis, and the rest of the time playing musical bedrooms at our house. And then, after we are completely exhausted from spring break we will be ready to finish out the semester strong!

Along with Josh's schooling and grace for me in everyday life, one thing you can be praying for is for the girls to get well. They have both been sick for a while and are not sleeping well, etc. We don't think it is anything serious, but nobody likes it when their children are sick.

Taylor has really enjoyed going to Mother's Morning Out at Covenant every Friday (and Sunday school on Sundays). She has also made many friends here at Gulf Drive, as have I. Her favorite thing is to be outdoors, especially when our friends are out there. So we are really looking forward to spring, although I definitely cannot complain about this incredibly mild and sunny winter!

Aubrey celebrated her 6 month birthday 9 days ago, and she has been on the verge of crawling for weeks. She is actually kind of moving like a very slow inch worm at this stage! She has two teeth and seems to be teething again. She still has the same pretty blue eyes she did as a new born, and her hair is funny as ever. Taylor and Aubrey are both sweeties, and Josh and I are so grateful we get to be their Daddy and Mommy together.

Well, that's all folks.

Taylor's Quotable

Mommy, can I wipe my booger on your jeans?

 

This is Taylor's new friend Georgia who lives in our neighborhood. Trying to get these two little girls to be still, look at me, and smile was impossible! So this is what we ended up with. As you can probably tell from the pictures, Taylor and Georgia have a lot in common! They are both energetic kids who love to talk, dance, play dress-up, babies, and kitchen. They also enjoy playing outside when the weather allows. They have so much fun together, but they also will definitely not ever let the other take advantage of them! I am so thankful God answered our prayers and gave Taylor such a good friend here in St. Louis. 

 

"Aubrey wants the toys!"

 
This picture shows one way Taylor likes to play with Aubrey. She likes to give her toys to play with. Even if Aubrey is perfectly happy with the ONE toy she is already playing with, that is just never enough for Taylor's satisfaction. She always says, "Aubrey wants this toy!" as she piles on 2,3,...8,9,10 toys on top of her. Sometimes Aubrey doesn't care but other times she does not appear to enjoy having a mountain of stuffed animals on top of her! 

First piggies!

 
Here is Aubrey in her first pig tails. Just thought y'all might enjoy the picture. We think it makes her look so different, alot older! Pretty funny, huh! 

TEETH!!

I do not have my camera back yet because I left it when we went to Texas. But I do have a fun little tidbit of news. Aubrey now has two teeth! They came through two days apart. I'm glad the process was not dragged out! She of coarse was very sweet about it, though we did have to get her some pain medicine the two nights before they came in.

Well, it was fun to see everyone we got to see in Texas. And for those we did not get to see, we'll see you this summer!

Future Best Friends!

 
 

 

This is just a picture of Taylor in a dress that was mine that my mom saved. Thanks, Mom! I took this picture especially for you! 

 

This is Taylor demonstrating Josh's study strategy. She got those earplugs in her ears all by herself! Anyway, as you can probably imagine, Josh's first full week of classes went well, and he is excited about the semester. His first paper is due Thursday! The Lord is already challenging him through the books he is reading, and I can already see in his life evidence of the Lord's work on his heart. I am constantly being challenged and encouraged in my own life as I see Josh's humble and relentless pursuit of Godliness. I hope and pray as God uses our time here to shape and teach Josh, that He will shape and teach me as well, and that we will sharpen each other as we go through this training together. 

 

This one's for you, Dad. You taught me everyhthing I know about the joys of graham crackers and milk, and now I get to teach it to my own daughter- obviously a very willing student. I love you more than words can say. 

Fun at the St. Louis Zoo

 

Yesterday, was another nice sunny day. We are loving this sunshine! Every day we try to get out and do something fun with Taylor before the snow and cold comes and "going out" becomes a little more of an ordeal. (Although we are looking forward to playing in the snow whenever it does decide to come and visit!) Anyway, we went to the zoo yesterday and that is what this picture is all about! Taylor loved the animals and Aubrey enjoyed the backs of her eyelids the whole time. We got there an hour before closing, so we just kind of sped through it and had fun in the play area. I was quite impressed with Josh for his ability to get into this hippo, but then there were moments where we were wondering if he was ever going to get out! Thankfully he got out before it got too cold outside and he was in good shape to go to class this morning. Oh, the things a daddy will do for his little girl.